how to start the installlation process from DOS cmd without windows being loaded
 

Hello,
For some reason I am not able to go into setup and change the order of my boot sequence because of which first my floppy drive and then the hard drive oon which I have Windows gets executed.
I would like to install linux on this system and wipe off the Windows OS however the CD which has fedora install is not getting executed as the CD sequence seems to be after the hard disk sequence.

However since I am able to boot via floppy disk I can go to the command prompt and can actually see the contents of my CD drive (i.e) the contents of the first disk of the the fedora install. how do I start the process of the install from this command prompt. Which command from the linux CD should I type from here

Is there some other way I can get the linux CD to boot?
Would renaming windows.exe on the hard disk prevent windows 98 from loading and hence the CD gets activated? (Actually I can try this now that I have a bootable floppy disk)


Any help from any quarters will be very much appreciated.

Regards

You need to create an Installation Boot Disk.

If you want wipe the content of the windows then you can directly format or delete the content of the respective hard drive.
look for fdisk if you don't know how to format?

Then remove floppy, insert cd (linux bootable) and try to reboot. It will definitely boot from CD and you can able to install new linux OS.

There is another way if you dont want to loose data.
Use fdisk option and disable mbr for the harddisk partition where windows installed. It will not boot from the harddrive, will boot from CD and here you go...

Regards
MrShanim

Hello MRSHANIM,
Thanks for your information and your help. Whatever you said seemed logical and correct.
I used the fdisk option and deleted the primary dos drive ie the C drive. There were no partitions on the 2GB disk.
I rebooted the system with nothing in the floppy drive and nothing on the hard disc. (Now even my windows information has been erased and nothing shows up) but after rebooting it says NON SYSTEM DISC i.e. it does not recognize the CD drive.
I checked that the CD drive is bootable on another system as it proeceeds to install fedora on the other system when I boot the other machine.

But on this system it does not boot the fedora installation disc.

So I went in again and created a primary dos partion of 10 MB but the problem yet continues.
Its important for the computer to recognize the CD and boot the Linux installable. I do not have a Linux bootable floppy drive neither can I create one as I dont have a system with fedora that has a floppy drive.

PLEASE HELP.

Regards,

You should have created the boot floppy before wiping out your system. Fedora doesn't need to be installed to create one. Most (if not all) distros will have the required boot.img file on the disc along with the tools (and instructions) needed to create a bootable floppy.

What is stopping you from entering the bios and changing the boot sequence? If this is a fairly modern machine, you may have the option to select your boot media at startup using one of the function keys.

If CD Rom is working in another machine then some problem with your cd rom connections.

Also look out for the cd rom light and its rotation, when you start machine it tries to boot from each device with sequence provided. When it reached to CD rom at that time a small led on cdrom should blink and it create a small noise of rotation disc(this noise is notable). If led is blinking which results something wrong with your fedora installation disc. Try to use different one.
If it is not blinking means hardware problem of connectivity.

Let me know if it is not working.

MrShanim

Hello BB1,

Hello,
Thanks for your reply. I can install windows again and create the linux floppy disc if needed.
The first installation CD and the second CD that I downloaded from the fedora site (fedora12) does not have details on how to create the boot disc.
I did notice the boot.img file on CD1 but there were no dos commands on the
disc that could be used to create the floppy disc? Any idea where I will get
these tools. Is there a website or a URL link which will help me get all the
needed files including the dos utilities to build the bootable floppy disc.
Please respond...I am eagerly awaiting to install my linux OS on this machine.

The F10 button which usually takes me to the BIOS is not working on this
machine for some reason so I will have to boot via linux floppy and then
somehow get the CD to work once the CD drivers get loaded via the floppy
disc. What would be the command that I would have to use to start the
installation process once the CD gets recognized via the linux floppy?

Regards

Hello MRSHANIM,
Thanks for your input. CD ROM is working well and fedora installation disc is
fine ...checked it on another machine.
Once I use the windows startup disc I can see the fedora installation disc
contents but dont know how to start the intallation process. It seems I will
have to create a bootable floppy disc for fedora
Also its not a problem that I lost my win 98 installation ...I can always
re-install it....No problems from that angle for me.
Regards

See here: create an installation boot disk There's instructions for creating one under GNU/Linux, Dos or Winblows.

Just out of curiosity how old is this computer and what are its specifications? You might be able to access the BIOS if you remove the battery and clear its settings.

AFAIK Fedora 12 (does any 2.6 kernel distribution?) does not have a boot floppy installation disk. The kernel is to big. One idea would be to use sbm http://paulski.com/zpages.php?id=1612 to boot the installation CD.

Thanks Michael for your valuable input. I lost the bios info when I formatted
the hard disc. Your information is valuable ...I will try it.
Regarding your question about the computer...its an old Deskpro Compaq 2000
which works very well on win 98. I have decided to switch to Linux from
Windows going forward.
Michael once I boot using the above floppy disc ...how will it boot the CD with the fedora installation...Any command that has to entered once at the A: prompt??

Regards

I've never owned a Compaq but from what I have found on the web "F10 must be pressed when there is a blinking cursor displayed at top right of screen. Pressing F10 once per second at this point will gain access."

When the SBM floppy is booted a boot menu will be displayed which has a CDROM option. When you select that boot option it will start the Fedora installation. Another possibility is using PLoP. I've never used either of these but others will pop in to assist.

However, how much RAM is in this computer? Since there are many versions of the 2000 and from your description of a having 2GB hard drive and runs 98 very well does not give us much confidence that Fedora will be a good choice.

Thanks Michael, once again for your valuable input.
Yes you are right this compaq version is not an ideal machine for FC12. However I am hoping to at least use it to get a feel of fedora 12 with it.
The machine has 128 MB ram which I intend to upgrade to 256 MB (I think that is the maximum this machine can support)
Regarding the F10 issue all trials have failed as the setup program is loaded by Compaq initally on the hard disc which got wiped off when I formatted it. However I am reading and will be trying out some utilities (e.g SP8126(1).exe) on the net which will give me back my f10 functionality. Thanks again for your input. Will let you know how results of the sbm exercise. Its difficult to find floppies nowadays but I will soon find them.

Regards

Hello Michael,
The SBMIinst command was GREAT it allowed me to boot Fedora from the CD but unfortunately as you rightly pointed out the kernel was not right for my CPU.
Can anyone let me know which flavour of Linux or which version of Fedora would be suitable for my PC.
Its a Compaq Deskpro 2000 old machine which runs well with Winows 98. It has a 2 GB hard disc (which I am planning to increase) and a 256 MB ram. (Unfortunately although the memory stick says its 256 MB the machine for some reason sees it as 128 MB. Is this a known issue and how can this be solved?)
I am determined to replace win 98 and run Linux on this machine even if its an earlier version of Linux...If somebody knows the correct info of the Linux installation that will work on this --please let me know.

Michael once again great many thanks for your indormation to the link to the programme that allowed me to boot linux (unsuccessfully though) via the CD.

Regards.

I would run one of the Puppy Linux Puplets on there. Forget going for any of the bigger distros like Fedora, openSUSE, Mandriva etc you don't have enough ram for them.